First-in-Human Proof-of-Concept Study: Intralesional Administration of BQ788, an Endothelin Receptor B Antagonist, to Melanoma Skin Metastases.

Background: This first-in-human proof-of-concept study aimed to check whether safety and preclinical results obtained by intratumoral administration of BQ788, an endothelin receptor B (EDNRB) antagonist, can be repeated in human melanoma patients.

Methods: Three patients received a single intralesional BQ788 application of 3 mg. After 3-7 days, the lesions were measured and removed for analysis.

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy for injection site panniculitis in multiple sclerosis patients.

Background: Painful cutaneous injection site reactions may hamper treatment with interferon β (IFN-β) and glatiramer acetate (GA) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

Objective: To maintain therapy adherence, efficient therapeutic modalities for these subcutaneous inflammatory lesions are urgently needed. We tested the application of local extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT).

The Swiss Systemic lupus erythematosus Cohort Study (SSCS) - cross-sectional analysis of clinical characteristics and treatments across different medical disciplines in Switzerland.

Objectives: To describe disease characteristics and treatment modalities in a multidisciplinary cohort of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients in Switzerland.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 255 patients included in the Swiss SLE Cohort and coming from centres specialised in Clinical Immunology, Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Rheumatology. Clinical data were collected with a standardised form.

A plant-derived wound therapeutic for cost-effective treatment of post-surgical scalp wounds with exposed bone.

Background: To evaluate efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a plant-derived wound dressing (ONE), a mixture of hypericum oil (Hypericum perforatum L.) and neem oil (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.

Profile of travel-associated illness in children, Zürich, Switzerland.

Background: The number of families traveling with their children to their country of origin and/or to tropical destinations has increased in Switzerland and includes a changing profile and multinational range of patients. Defining the profile of reported travel-associated illnesses will help to improve the prevention and treatment of such illnesses in children.

Methods: This study includes children aged up to 16 years who sought medical advice for a presumed travel-related illness at the emergency room of the University of Zürich Children's Hospital during the period July 2007 to December 2008.

Fractional transepidermal delivery: a histological analysis.

Background: In autologous cell therapy, e.g. in melanocyte transplantation for vitiligo, a minimally invasive mode of transepidermal delivery of the isolated cells is of crucial importance to reduce potential side effects such as infections and scarring as well as to minimize the duration of sick leave.

Assessment of melanocytic skin lesions with a high-definition laser Doppler imaging system.

Background: Early detection is a major goal in the management of malignant melanoma. Besides clinical assessment many noninvasive technologies such as dermoscopy, digital dermoscopy and in vivo laser scanner microscopy are used as additional methods. Herein we tested a system to assess lesional perfusion as a tool for early melanoma detection.

[Local treatment of chronic skin wounds in a Swiss out-patient wound centre 2010].

In Switzerland around 30,000 patients suffer from chronic skin wounds. Appropriate topical wound care along with treatment of the causes of the wounds enables to heal a lot of these patients and to avoid secondary disease such as infections. Thereby, the final goal of wound care is stable reepithelisation.

EpiDex® Swiss field trial 2004-2008.

Background: Approximately 20% of leg ulcers remain unresponsive to the best conservative standard of care. So far, these patients could either receive conventional skin grafts or had to accept their intractable wound. Skin substitutes from cell culture may represent a promising alternative to heal a major part of these patients on a non-surgical, potentially more cost-effective basis.

Human melanocytes can be isolated, propagated and expanded from plucked anagen hair follicles.

Herein, we report a technically simple method for isolation and culture of human follicular melanocytes based on explant cultures of epilated hair follicles. This technique does not require any surgical intervention and allows the isolation and cultivation of follicular melanocytes from a comparatively small amount of raw material. Generally, 30-60 human anagen hair follicles have been plucked from the scalp of healthy donors and cultivated under low oxygen pressure (5%).

Wound stimulation by growth-arrested human keratinocytes and fibroblasts: HP802-247, a new-generation allogeneic tissue engineering product.

Background: HP802-247 is a new-generation, allogeneic tissue engineering product consisting of growth-arrested, human keratinocytes (K) and fibroblasts (F) delivered in a fibrin matrix by a spray device.

Objective: To identify the preferred dose of HP802-247 based on cell concentration and K/F ratio.

Methods: A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, explorative phase II study of 6 different doses of HP802-247 administered once per week for 12 consecutive weeks in chronic venous leg ulcers.

[Towards the Swiss systemic lupus erythematosus cohort study (SSCS)].

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a rare disease mainly affecting women of childbearing age. It is characterized by a very large spectrum of clinical manifestations accompanied by prototypic abnormalities of the immune system. While recent advances in therapeutic approaches have taken place, SLE still has a profound impact on the quality of life and life expectancy of affected persons.

Repigmentation by outer-root-sheath-derived melanocytes: proof of concept in vitiligo and leucoderma.

Background: Treatment of depigmented skin is an unmet medical need.

Objective: Melanocytes or stem cells thereof residing in the outer root sheath (ORS) of hair follicles might be used to repigment skin.

Methods: After de-epidermisation, autologous ORS cell solutions were applied to 5 patients with vitiligo and 1 with leucoderma.

High-dose intravenous corticosteroid pulse therapy in alopecia areata: own experience compared with the literature.

Background: Seven prospective studies including 193 patients have been published on high-dose intravenous corticosteroid pulse therapy in alopecia areata (AA). We compare these data with a retrospective analysis of our own consecutive patients.

Patients And Methods: Between 1998 and 2002,25 patients with severe AA were treated at the Department of Dermatology, University of Bern, with infusions of 500 mg methylprednisolone on 3 consecutive days.

Facets of lupus erythematosus: panniculitis responding to thalidomide.

Lupus erythematosus profundus or lupus panniculitis is a rare clinical variant of lupus erythematosus, which involves the deep dermis and subcutaneous fat. Diagnosis may be difficult in cases with isolated involvement. Further manifestations of lupus erythematosus may thus be essential for diagnosis, which depends on the clinical picture, histopathology and a positive lesional lupus band test.

Plakoglobin-dependent disruption of the desmosomal plaque in pemphigus vulgaris.

We recently reported that the pathogenesis of pemphigus vulgaris (PV), an autoimmune blistering skin disorder, is driven by the accumulation of c-Myc secondary to abrogation of plakoglobin (PG)-mediated transcriptional c-Myc suppression. PG knock-out mouse keratinocytes express high levels of c-Myc and resemble PVIgG-treated wild-type keratinocytes in most respects. However, they fail to accumulate nuclear c-Myc and loose intercellular adhesion in response to PVIgG-treatment like wild-type keratinocytes.

Pemphigus vulgaris identifies plakoglobin as key suppressor of c-Myc in the skin.

The autoimmune disease pemphigus vulgaris (PV) manifests as loss of keratinocyte cohesion triggered by autoantibody binding to desmoglein (Dsg)3, an intercellular adhesion molecule of mucous membranes, epidermis, and epidermal stem cells. Here we describe a so far unknown signaling cascade activated by PV antibodies. It extends from a transient enhanced turn over of cell surface-exposed, nonkeratin-anchored Dsg3 and associated plakoglobin (PG), through to depletion of nuclear PG, and as one of the consequences, abrogation of PG-mediated c-Myc suppression.

[Dye laser treatment of periungual pyogenic granuloma].

Treatment of pyogenic granuloma may be difficult in locations such as the face and fingertips. We successfully treated a 1 cm periungual fingertip pyogenic granuloma with a dye laser.

Disseminated Mycobacterium marinum infection with extensive cutaneous eruption and bacteremia in an immunocompromised patient.

Mycobacterium marinum can cause fish tank granuloma (or swimming pool or aquarium granuloma) in immunocompetent patients. Dissemination of Mycobacterium marinum-infection is a rare condition which occurs mainly in immunocompromised patients and can be life-threatening. We report the case of an 87-year-old woman who was treated with oral corticosteroids for polymyalgia rheumatica for many years and developed erythema nodosum-like lesions on the right forearm and arthritis of the right wrist.

Detection of laminin 5-specific auto-antibodies in mucous membrane and bullous pemphigoid sera by ELISA.

Mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) is an autoimmune bullous disease that primarily affects mucous membranes leading to a scarring phenotype. MMP patients produce auto-antibodies (auto-ab) that preferentially recognize two components of the dermoepidermal basement membrane zone (BMZ): bullous pemphigoid (BP)180 and laminin 5 (LN5). Since detection of disease-specific auto-ab may be critical for diagnosis of MMP, we developed an ELISA with affinity-purified native human LN5.